Page 105 of Tobias

“All right, but only because I have a flight to catch. Enjoy your meals.”

He gives us one last look-over before walking away. I stare at my glass of wine, fighting off the annoyance over his presence and the discomfort it brought me. My cheeks are burning, and my skin is itching. No one in this world can make me feel the way he does and it enrages me.

“Are you okay?” Theo asks softly.

It takes a moment, but finally I force a smile. “Yeah, I’m good.”

“You can tell me if you’re not, you know.” His words are soft, gentle, understanding.

I can’t thank him enough for that.

“He knows just how to get under my skin, and I hate that I let him.”

“Who was that?” he asks carefully. Though I’m sure he already knows.

“My ex,” I say, reaching for my wine.

“Your ex,” he repeats, brows knitting together as if he’s trying to figure something out. “I thought so, but… he said he saw you wearing this the other day.”

Fuck.

“Yeah, he—”

“Is this how you dress at the facility or…”

“Of course not. It’s… He just—”

I hold Theo’s stare and see the concern in his eyes. He thinks I lied about my relationship with Brandon.

“Look, Brandon is a manipulative little prick, okay? He does this stuff on purpose to hurt me. He obviously saw us together, saw me happy, and he’s trying to ruin it.”

“Were you with him the other day?” he boldly asks. I consider how to answer that, but before I can, he adds, “Are you leading him on or something?”

“What? No,” I say adamantly. “Of course not.”

“Then how did he see you?” he asks. “Was it on a date? While you were working?”

I chew the inside of my cheek, knowing even the truth is going to sound like a lie because I should have told Theo about this sooner. When I brought up Brandon in the car, this should have been part of the conversation. Maybe even mentioned it when it happened.

“A few weeks ago, he asked me to attend an event with him.”

“And you did?” he says, shocked. But there’s hurt there too. I don’t miss that one bit.

“No,” I say firmly. “Well, yes, but I told him no when he asked.”

Theo leans back in his chair, looking like he’s on the verge of crying. His eyes get red and his body is stiff. I hate it, and I have never hated Brandon so much in my life. Leave it to him to fuck up everything in my life.

“He booked a date through Foxy’s using a false name. When I showed up and saw it was him, I threatened to leave because he breached the contract, but he told me if I did then he would ruin Foxy’s company.”

“He’s blackmailing you and you’re just letting him?” he growls.

“What am I supposed to do, Theo? He is a powerful man, and I love my job. But not only that, I respect Foxy and everyone who works there. I won’t let him ruin their lives over something so stupid. It was just one night.”

“Right, so you just let him do what he wants with you?To what end?”

I narrow my eyes on him, my heart beating a little harder. My defenses come back, that little voice in my head telling me to hurt before I get hurt.

“You have no right to be mad about this, Theo. We weren’t even together then.”

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